The shuttle's pre-dawn return Thursday likely sparked a flurry of calls to law enforcement agencies from disoriented residents and tourists within miles of the landing site, jostled awake by the shuttle's distinctive twin sonic booms.

Space Coast dispatchers have grown accustomed to hearing from people who mistake that boom-boom for something else.

The space shuttle era will last a little longer, NASA mission controllers decided, extending the Atlantis mission an extra day.

Atlantis should land in darkness at 5:56 a.m. EDT July 21. The decision results from the projection that the shuttle's veteran crew will finish planned activities with at least 30 extra hours of power remaining for the mission.

Science teacher Guytri Still tells her students to aim high, study hard and one day they can be an astronaut like the ones they see rocket into space.

With the shuttles' retirement, that message won't be dead. The corps will just have fewer astronauts, NASA says.

Only four U.S. astronauts a year will get seats onboard a Russian Soyuz, as opposed to the crews of as many as seven the shuttle took up two to three times a year in the past.

Editor's picks

10 great space-related museums, sites
Space fans are facing cosmic withdrawal when the shuttle program ends. Museums and historic sites — from Florida to California with Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Arizona in between — keep the high-flying spirit alive.

Graphic: The final orbit
Click on the image to open a huge info graphic that looks at the shuttle in orbit and what it took to get there.

Legacy of shuttle era sparks debate
The last shuttle mission is about far more than carrying supplies to the International Space Station. At more than $1 billion per launch, it is renewing debate about whether the space shuttle era was worth the price.

Kennedy Space Center won't vanish
While acknowledging the difficult economic and emotional hit caused by the shuttle's end, NASA officials are promoting reasons for the Space Coast to be optimistic about its future.

Get a closeup of the Space Coast graphic
Check out the details on Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station space operations that are in the works after the space shuttle program ends.

NASA: Deep-space efforts to continue
The United States will continue to lead in space exploration despite the end of the space shuttle program, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.

From our bloggers

Minute-by-minute Atlantis coverageby Florida Today | The Flame Trench
Thirty years and 135 missions after its debut, NASA launched a space shuttle for the final time. Atlantis has embarked on its 12-day mission.

Emotions high at shuttle dockingby USA TODAY | OnDeadline
Astronauts embraced their space station colleagues from the U.S., Russian and Japanese space agencies as the connecting hatches opened.

With shuttle program ending, fears of decline at NASAby The New York Times
As NASA prepares to launch its last space shuttle — ending 30 years with large teams of creative scientists and engineers sending winged spaceships into orbit — it is facing a brain drain that threatens to undermine safety as well as the agency’s plans.

Shuttle's retirement could endanger space stationby The Washington Post
Human spaceflight is dangerous — and it’s about to get more so — according to former Johnson Space Center director Christopher Kraft, who says NASA is making a mistake by retiring the space shuttle.

Interactive: Launch your own shuttleby the National Aeronautics & Space Administration
Learn the steps that Mission Control takes as it moves toward a shuttle launch when you play NASA's Shuttle Launch Simulation. (Works best in Firefox or any non-IE browser.)